the black people erased from history

8/16/2019 The Black People Erased From History

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bbc.com

The black people 'erased from history'- BBC News

By Arlene Gregorius BBC News, Mexico

More than a million people in Mexico are descended from Africanslaves and identify as "black", "dark" or "Afro-Mexican" even if they

don't look black. But beyond the southern state of Oaxaca they are

little-known and the community's leaders are now warning of

possible radical steps to achieve official recognition.

"The police made me sing the national anthem three times, because

they wouldn't believe I was Mexican," says Chogo el Bandeno, a

black Mexican singer-songwriter.

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"I had to list the governors of five states too."

He was visiting the capital, Mexico City, hundreds of miles from his

home in southern Mexico, when the police stopped him on suspicion

of being an illegal immigrant.

Fortunately his rendition of the anthem and his knowledge of

political leaders convinced the police to leave him alone, but other

Afro-Mexicans have not been so fortunate.

Image caption Chogo el Bandeno (right) with visiting Malian musician

Lassana Diabate

Clemente Jesus Lopez, who runs the government office in charge of

Afro-Mexicans in Oaxaca state, recalls two separate cases, both

involving women.

"One was deported to Honduras and the other to Haiti because thepolice insisted that in Mexico there are no black people. Despite

having Mexican ID, they were deported."

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With the help of the Mexican consulates they were able to return but

were offered no apology or compensation, Lopez says.

Black Mexicans have been living in the Costa Chica area, on the

Pacific coast of Oaxaca, since their ancestors were brought from

Africa as slaves in the 16th Century.

Colonial Spanish cattle ranchers often used them as foremen, in

charge of indigenous Mexican workers who were not used to

animals the size of cows or horses.

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Image caption Black cowboy, Antonio Prudente Lopez, says about 10% of

Santiago Llano Grande share his profession

But outside the Costa Chica area there is little awareness of their

existence.

An interim census in 2015 indicated a black population of 1.4

million, or 1.2% of the Mexican population. Even in Oaxaca state

they only account for 5% of the total.

You may have had a grandmother who was black and feel black,

even if you don't look it

By comparison, indigenous peoples made up nearly 10% of

Mexico's population, as measured in the 2010 census.

The appearance of those who identify as black Mexicans varies

considerably. Some are hard to distinguish from indigenous

Mexicans.

"It's not only about skin colour, it's also about how you feel," says

Tulia Serrano Arellanes, a council worker. "You may have had a

grandmother who was black and feel black, even if you don't look it."

Much of their identity is based on where they live - if you live in a

black town such as Santiago Llano Grande, as Chogo el Bandeno

does, you are likely to think of yourself as black.

But there is also a common culture.

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For example, there's a distinctive style of music called the chilena,

which was brought to the Costa Chica in the 19th Century by

Chilean sailors on their way to the gold rush in California, which

black musicians have adapted.

They have added Afro-Mexican instruments such as the quijada, a

dried out donkey's jawbone with rattling molar teeth. There's also the

bote, a friction drum - you rub a stick attached to the drum skin and

it makes a kind of growling percussive noise. These sounds are a

central part of Afro-Mexican musical life.

There are also dances that hark back to the colonial ranching days,

including the Dance of the Devils, performed around the Day of the

Dead at the end of October and in early November.

The dancers wear "devil" masks, and are led by the brash character

"Pancho", who plays the colonial ranch foreman.

He struts around with a whip while his buxom "white" wife - playedby a black man - flirts outrageously with the "devils" and even with

the audience.

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In the towns of the Costa Chica, even nursery-age children learn

steps of the dance and are taught to take pride in their black

heritage.

But there is frustration here that the Afro-Mexicans are not more

widely known in Mexico and are not officially recognised as aminority by the Mexican government.

According to Humberto Hebert Silva Silva, head of the Bureau for

Afro-Mexican Affairs in Oaxaca, this is because Afro-Mexicans speak

Spanish, like most other Mexicans - they do not have their own

language.

"When we go and ask [for recognition as a minority], they come up

with excuses, or say that we don't have an indigenous mother

tongue. Language is the real criterion," he says. "We are being

discriminated against."

If Afro-Mexicans were classified as a minority they would receive

extra funding for promotion of their culture and public health

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But some Afro-Mexicans are impatient for more recognition.

Humberto Hebert Silva Silva warns that the black community may

end up emulating the indigenous uprising in Chiapas in the 1990s,

known as the Zapatistas.

"So far the black communities have endured discrimination and they

have stuck to legal avenues, which they have now exhausted," he

says.

"With the Zapatistas, the indigenous rose up, and it was an armed

uprising, to claim their rights. And well, our community is thinking

the same. It's thinking, in the distant future, to rise up too," he says.

"It may be the only way to get the rights we're entitled to. It can't be

right that the constitution of our country doesn't recognise us.

There's a big gap between what the politicians say and what they

do. We'll have to take action to give them a warning."

As people become increasingly connected and more mobi le,

the BBC is exploring how identities are changing.

Catch up with programmes, downloads and clips from the season.

The Salon - Every haircut has a story

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question

Default World - The morals of the technical elite

Why I'm Not Just Blind - Must blind people be either inspirational or deserving pity?

#BBCIdentity.

The Afro-Mexicans is broadcast on the BBC World Service from

04:00 GMT on Sunday 10 April - catch up on BBC iPlayer Radio

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